Last week my whole family went to Hong Kong.On the 2nd day Dad had to work so my mom, sisters and I went to the winter carnival. Our hotel was on the Kowloon side of the harbor but the carnival was on the Hong Kong island side so we took the star ferry. We boarded the boat and got front seats. We could see the ferris wheel and a big red and white striped tent.
Yilan Hot Springs
Since Chinese New Year is next week, we wanted to take a day trip before traffic around Taipei picked up. We decided to visit Yilan (pronounced Ee-Lan), a popular family friendly county about an hour away from Taipei. It is not very easy to get to, so most visitors are local Taiwanese families.
After a long bus ride from Daan where we live, we arrived in Yilan. We checked into our hotel room and were delighted to find free snacks and drinks. After unloading our bags, we decided to hit the hot springs. Because we were hotel guests, we got free entry to the hotel hot spring facility. It is also possible to use the hot springs even if you are not staying the hotel for a small fee, but you have to bring your own slippers, swim cap, bathing suit and towels.
The hot spring facility had about 20 different soaking pools! The first pool we visited was filled with warm water and tons of small fish. Most of them looked like your average gold fish, but about 30% were dark or silver colored. It was quite shallow, meant for sitting on the side or on some rocks in the middle. When you put your feet in, the fish immediately swim over and start eating away at any dead or dry skin. It tickled soooooo much! This was my favorite pool. We liked it so much that we went to a similar fish/foot soaking place the following day while waiting for our train.
After the fish, we explored some other flavored pools, including wine, bubblegum, aloe, milk, and many more. All of them were the color of the food/thing they were named after. I was convinced that they were just dyed because they had no scent. But then, while Ansel and I were sitting in the wine pool, the staff came over and poured in a bottle of wine. 😱
Next we headed over to the kid area. There was a very wide waterslide that could fit up to 3 people across. It was awesome! There were also a number of mounted water guns that you could aim at the people who came down the water slide. We definitely got a few surprised looks from folks coming down the slide...
When we were ready to leave the hot springs, we took showers and headed out to ramen. The ramen restaurant had tasty food and (bonus!) there were two resident cats who were so cute. After dinner, we headed back to the hotel for bed.
For part 2, read The Animal farm (Natalie)
On Wednesday, we woke up very early in the morning. It was still dark when we traveled to the Taipei airport. Before we went to our plane, we found the lounge. I ate mochi, cucumber and dumplings for breakfast. Then we found our gate and boarded our plane for Hong Kong.
Our room has a view of the lanterns and also the harbor. It also has curtains that you can close with a button and there is even a TV at the foot of the bathtub!
After we got settled in our room, we went to the pool. It is big and deep. There are two smaller attached pools that looked like hot tubs, but they are the same temperature as the pool, just shallower. There is also a lion head that sprays water. When you arrive at the pool, they give you spa slippers and towels, but you don't keep those.
The hotel has a really good breakfast. Today was the first day I ate at the hotel breakfast and I am stuffed! There was bao, dumplings, congee, pickled vegetables, fish, miso soup, dim sum, poached eggs, omelette station, potatoes, roasted tomatoes, bacon, ham, sausage, crepes, assorted pastries, yogurt, muesli, cheeses, fresh fruit juices, tea and coffees. I ate a chocolate croissant, a bao, a waffle with whipped cream, pineapple and chocolate. Mom had beef congee with a poached egg, scallions, pickled radish, fried Chinese bread slices called "you tiao" and fish. Ansel and Natalie ate so many bao we lost count! The butter was so pretty that I thought it was a little treat. Dad told me not to eat it.
Today after we finish our writing and math school work, we will go to the winter carnival on the Hong Kong side of the harbor. Our hotel is on the Kowloon side, so we will take the Star Ferry.
Last week we changed apartments and moved to a new neighborhood.
Our new apartment is more like a house. It is bigger and has three bedrooms. Every bedroom has two big beds. Since we have five people in our family, it works better because everyone gets their own bed and I even get my own room! Dad has an office in his bedroom.
We live right by Da'an Park. Da'an Park is the biggest park in Taipei.
I like this because I can go there everyday to play soccer and run around (when I'm done with school). The people call it the "Lungs of Taipei." Lots of kids go there to play, eat and relax. Adults also go there to exercise, meet with friends, take classes and even pray. There is a huge white statue of Guanyin near our corner of the park. It used to be inside a temple but now it is outside and anyone can walk by and pray.
The birds are always chirping and strutting all over the place. There are big birds and little birds, sassy birds and calm birds. There are also pathways that lead to the church, night market and the coffee shop that Dad goes to almost every morning. The kids like to play sports, play on the playground and run/play tag. There is also an outdoor roller skating rink that has rentals and classes every night. The grownups like to do TaiQi and yoga classes (TaiQi is a martial art). Mom and Dad also like to go there to work out and run. In the park there are work out machines that older people can use to improve mobility and get stronger. 💪 There is also a perimeter path around the entire park.
For all of these reasons, I really like living near Da'an Park.
On Dihua street anything is possible. A hog walking on a leash? Potato chips on a stick? Yep, it's possible. Our family explored and had lunch there. 
First we stopped for some gua bao (a kind of bao that's shaped like a taco and filled with meat and vegetables) we also tried something new, rice meatballs! They were delicious. We also got shrimp dumplings courtesy of Ansel. (He was the taster) Mom also stopped to pick up some fabric to make new pants for Charlotte.
While she was picking out the fabric with Charlie, Dad, Natalie, and Ansel got potato chips on a stick. The vendor offered all kinds of spices including powdered seaweed, pepper salt, and plum powder.
The family also stopped for sweet and slimy tofu pudding, complete with tapioca pearls, red bean, taro balls, and grass jelly. After lunch we headed over to the Hello Kitty themed 7-Eleven. We got a Hello Kitty stuffie dressed like a snake.
Mom offered all of the kids to get a sweet drink so the littles got slushies and Natalie got a boba tea. Sipping our sweet drinks, we headed home. A claw machine caught our eye. Now let me tell you about claw machines. They are around every corner of Taipei. It seems to be a national pastime around Taiwan. Anyway, in the claw machine there was a capybara stuffie just barely hanging on. We were all doubtfull as all Taiwan claw machines are made to grab the stuffie, bring it up, and let it go back into the machine leaving the user with a 10NT dollar setback. Previously another kid had managed to aqquire a snoopy stuffie from a different claw machine. Charlotte took the chance. The claw brought the capybara high over the rest and dropped it. The capybara bounced off of the others and into the pit. Charlotte got it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We all screamed and celebrated. Dihua street was a huge success.
The Beitou Hot springs
After a long train ride, our family made it through the mountains to arrive at the Beitou (bay-too) hot springs. The springs we chose to visit were located inside a resort. The wait at the reception desk was pretty long and we were all relieved when Mom informed us that it was time to go. By then was lunchtime so we went upstairs to the resort's restaurant. We got assorted sushi and other good food but the highlight of that restaurant was definitly the beaf udon soup. We got two of those and split them
together. After lunch it was time to hit the springs. We checked in and they gave each of the adults and the two big kids baskets filled with one towel, a robe, a pair of flipflops, and a shower cap that was mandatory to go in the hot springs. After the guys and the girls had gotten ready in our bathing suits we headed outside. The wind was strong so we didn't delay getting in the water. The springs were situated so that there were about seven or eight individual pools. We explored almost all of them including one with a water fall, one with bubbles, a reclining pool, and a bunch of open pools with various levels of hotness. There was also a cold plunge and a family pool that was rather cold. We also enjoyed a stone surface that was heated so that people could lay on it/it was like a grittle for humans. We spent about three hours there and then showered and left.
It was a great experience and we would highly recommend it to anyone. The only improvement we would give to the resort would be to offer snacks while soaking.
We made a plan to visit the Maokong tea plantations. The way you get to the plantations is by riding on a gondola.
The line was pretty brutal so we took the crystal cabin. The crystals are gondolas with glass for the bottom. That means you can see through the floor all the way to the ground below you. I am afraid of heights so I didn't exactly jump in happiness at the idea.
When we got on the gondola we could see lots of stalks of bamboo and even all the way to Taipei 101 (the tallest building in the city, kind of like Taipei's Space Needle).
When we got to the top of the mountain we saw a lot of tea bushes. There were fields and fields of them! We climbed the mountain and came back down.
We had lunch (chicken soup) and bought ice cream. The ice cream was good but the wind kept blowing dust into our cones so we had to turn our backs to the wind. My ice cream got so dirty that my dad had to clean it off for me!
I would recommend the tea plantations as a good place to visit because the gondola is fun, the food at the top is great, and the energy of the mountains is exciting. As a note to cat lovers, there are stray cats there that love when you pet them. Natalie was in heaven...
